Golf bag



' Dec. 15, 1936. v G. M. G. JONES GOLF BAG Filed Jan. 9, 1955 zall' l Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application January 9, 1935, Serial No. 1,037 In Great Britain January 29, 1934 4 Claims.

This invention relates to golf bags and aims primarily at improving that form of bag that has a strap which will fit comfortably on a player's shoulder but when the bag is lowered to the ground will remain arched, that is to say will project upwards. The invention is not, however, restricted to such bags.

An important object of the invention is to render it possible for the shoulder strap to be easily straightened when the bag is not in use without depriving it of its capacity for remaining upwardly-arched when lowered to the ground. Another important object is to prevent the strap from falling or flopping forwards over the mouth end when it is in the upwardly-arched position.

With these objects in view, the strap is preferably connected to the mouth end of the bag by a hinge composed of a loop carried by the end of the shoulder strap and a socket fixed to the bag and adapted to limit the pivotal movement of the loop towards the mouth end of the bag. Further the strap passes through a loop on the bag affording a running connection between the strap and the bag through which the strap may be pulled to lie fiat against the bag. This loop, however, serves to maintain the strap in the upwardly-arched position when this is required and is so constructed that it affords support against lateral movement of the strap,

' i. e. movement of the strap out of its own plane. The strap itself may conveniently consist of a spring steel strip covered with leather, as it must possess sufficient rigidity or resiliency not to collapse when the bag is on the ground, but yet must slide easily through the running connection when forcibly moved by hand.

Another important object of the invention is to furnish improved legs or like supporting means which will hold the mouth of the bag 01f the ground. In particular the invention aims at providing legs that can readily be swung into a supporting position but will not tend to collapse when they reach that position. Yet another important object of the invention is to simplify the mechanical construction and to enable the bag to be assembled rapidly in manufacture from a minimum number of parts. With these objects in view, the mouth-ring of the bag is preferably provided with two lugs, one of which forms the socket of the shoulder strap hinge and carries wings which prevent the shoulder strap from falling forwards, and the other of which forms a rigid point of attachment for the leg hinge.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide improved means for separating the clubs from one another in the bag. Such improved means comprise a tightly coiled spring spanning the mouth of the bag and carrying one or more rollers.

The preferred embodiment of my invention will now be described by way of example with. reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 shows the complete bag resting on the ground.

Figure 2 shows a front view of the bag on an enlarged scale,

Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section through the end of the bag on the same scale as Figure 2, i

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the mouth-ring; and.

Figure 5 shows a section through a detail.

The bag is made of canvas l with longitudinal metal stiffeners 2 and 3 covered by leather strips 4. At the mouth end of the bag there is a metal ring v5 formed with two lugs, one of which projects rearwardly as shown at 6 and is grooved to receive the end of and form a rigid point of attachment for the stiffener 3, while the other lug projects rearwardly at l and forwardly at 8, the rearward projection i being grooved. tov receive the end of and form a rigid attachment for the stiffener 2.

The bag is provided with a shoulder strap consisting of a strip of leather 9 which is reinforced over its Whole length by .a steel strip l0 and. to which a piece of canvas webbing H is sewn. At the mouth end of the bag the shoulder strap is provided with a D-shaped hinge ring l2 which passes through a hinge socket l3 formed in the forwardly projecting lug 8. This lug has two wings Hl against which the ring l2 abuts in the position shown in Figures 1 and 3. The connection between the end of the shoulder strap and the ring [2 is substantially rigid and thus the provision of the wings M prevents the shoulder strap from flopping or falling forwards over the mouth end of the bag, while lateral movement is prevented by the co-operation of the straight part of the D-shaped ring with the straight socket.

At its free end the strap 9 is formed with an enlargement constituted by a pin IS, the ends of which project beyond the width of the strap and thus prevent the strap from passing completely through a loop l6 which is pivotally connected to the bag and which afiords a running connection between the strap and the bag.

The shoulder strap described is sufficiently flexible to adapt itself easily to the players 55 shoulder, and when the bag is lowered to the ground the strap will remain in the upwardly arched position shown in Figure 1 owing to the rigidity or resiliency imparted to the strap by the reinforcing strip in, and owing to the fact that in this position the free end of the strap tends to press nearly perpendicularly against the leather strip 4, that is to say does not tend to slide through the loop I6. When the bag is not in use, however, the strap may easily be pulled through the loop to assume the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1.

The bag is provided with a support in the form of two legs I! integral with one another. These are mounted to swing in a hinge socket constituted by a fiat metal plate l8 and a dished metal plate I9, both of which are secured by small nuts and bolts 20 to the lug 6. The plate 2|, when screwed home, bears firmly on the part of the legs that lies in the dished portion, and this dished portion is deformed to some extent by the pressure with the result that a stifi joint is formed. The result is that turning of the legs is resisted frictionally and the legs do not tend to move out of any position in which they are put. The plate [9 is provided with two Wings 2| which constitute abutments for the legs I! and prevent the legs turning further forward than the position shown in the drawing. The legs can swing from this position in the direction of the arrow into the position shown in Figure 1, in which they embrace the mouth of the bag. The wings 2| also serve to limit the movement of the legs during this: turning, i. e., they determine the end position that is taken up by the legs when they are swung to the maximum extent in the direction of the arrow.

A device for separating the clubs, for example the irons from the woods, is provided in the mouth of the bag. This consists of a tightly coiled spring 22 carrying rollers 23. The spring is secured in position by anchoring means in the form of screws 24 which pass through the wall of the bag (which has a leather covering 25 at the mouth end) and the threads of which mesh with the coils of the spring 22. By rotating the anchoring screws 24 the tension of the spring may be adjusted.

I claim:

1. In a golf bag, a flexible shoulder strap of suflicient rigidity or resiliency to retain an upwardly-arched shape when the bag is on the ground, means connecting one end of said strap to the mouth end of the bag and adapted to resist the strap from falling towards the mouth end in the said upwardly-arched position, and means. on the bag affording a running connection between the strap and the bag through which the strap may be pulled to lie fiat against the bag but adapted to maintain the strap in said upwardly-arched position when this is desired, and to afford support against lateral movement.

2. In a golf bag, a flexible shoulder strap of sufficient rigidity or resiliency to retain an upwardly-arched shape when the bag is on the ground, means connecting one end of said. strap to the mouth end of the bag and adapted to resist the strap from falling towards the mouth end in the said upwardly-arched position, and a loop affording a running connection between the strap and the bag through which the strap may be pulled to lie flat against the bag but adapted to maintain the strap in said upwardly-arched position when this is desired, and to afford support against lateral movement, the free end of said strap being enlarged so as to be unable to pass through said loop.

3. In a golf bag, a flexible shoulder strap of sufficient rigidity or resiliency to retain an upwardly-arched shape when the bag is on the ground, a loop on the end of the strap, a hinge socket on the mouth end of the bag receiving said loop, means carried by said socket for limiting the pivotal movement of said loop in said socket towards the mouth end of the bag, and means on the bag aifording a running connection between the strap and the bag through which the strap may be pulled to lie fiat against the bag but adapted to maintain the strap in said.

upwardly-arched position when this is desired, and to afford support against lateral movement.

4. In a golf bag, a flexible shoulder strap of sufiicient rigidity or resiliency toretain an upwardly-arched shape when the bag is on the ground, and means aifording a running connection between the free end of the strap and the bag to allow the strap to be pulled flat against the side of the bag while being held thereagainst by said means.

GEORGE MORGAN GARRO JONES. 

